San Francisco Voice

You should probably know by now that we’re in the midst of a summer which is being celebrated as the 40th anniversary of The Summer of Love. What better way to celebrate such a summer than with some summer lovin’ on your radio? After all, the music of that era is a huge part of the story of that time.
There’s a show on now in the Bay Area that celebrates some of the cutting edge music from that time. The acid music from San Francisco’s psychedelic bands is explored, commercial free, from 7 p.m. – midnight every Saturday and Sunday. …read more

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The Reaction could very well be one of the most passionate, dynamic, vibrant bands in the Bay Area. Don’t believe it? Go check them out love at The Hemlock Tavern this Friday, June 20. To learn more about them first, be sure to read their San Fran Voice interview. If you’re not familiar with the venue, there’s info here.
The show starts at 9:00 p.m. and features two other bands, The Vatican and The Neverending Party. The latter is releasing a 7″ vinyl record with The Reaction this month (more details at the inteview page).

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I always try to do an introduction to the interviews that I post on my site. This is where I pull together what the band has said and summarize it to give it some form. But on occasion, I get an interview back from a band member who has written everything with such flow and summed everything up so concisely that there’s no reason for me to give an introduction. So, I’ll leave it to Aoede to tell you what there is to know. Although I will point out that a band that can write their own interview answers so …read more

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I never knew that storage units could be beautiful. In fact, I spent some time this summer moving stuff into storage and “tedious” would’ve been the first adjective to come to mind. My perspective was broadened a little bit by a research piece that I did on local storage spots just because some of the neat high-tech security stuff they use and specialty storage units they offer are kind of fascinating. Fascinating, but not beautiful. After all, it’s storage.
Then, I was looking at the photographs of fine art artist Ginny Mangrum. Specifically, I was looking at Ginny’s collection entitled “Stored”. …read more

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If you read this blog regularly (or semi-regularly even), you know that there are certain things that are always on the site. Every day (up until the last couple of days), there are YouTube videos about San Francisco and a quote about the city. There is also often an interview with a local artist or music. Sometimes there’s a review of a local CD, a suggestion to go to a recommended event in the city, or travel-like information about local venues and neighborhoods.
But is this what you want from your San Fran Voice?
One of the major goals of this site …read more

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The dentist in this video (Dr. Doug) is a Giants Fan who shows off some of his stuff here in this video.

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The job of the music review writer is to listen carefully to the tracks on a CD and come up with an original, unique description of the music so that new listeners can gain an understanding of the band’s sound and old fans can gain a new perspective on the music. But, in very rare instances, the band itself does a better job of summarizing the music than the music journalist can do. Such is the case with The Sprial Path, the new CD by Project Greenfield.
As described in the introduction letter by the band, “The Spiral Path is a …read more

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San Francisco is a city with stunning architecture and simultaneously a city which celebrates nature. Less than 50 square miles in size and we allow for both the tall buildings of the Financial District and the expanse of Golden Gate Park.
In her piece “Under The Redwoods“, Mary C. McFadden writes about one piece of this duality:
Other than the bridges, the Transamerica Pyramid is the most distinctive feature in San Francisco’s skyline. It is our tallest building and the only one of its kind. A small oasis of redwood trees sits at its base. Surrounded by concrete, glass, and steel, half-acre …read more

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It’s difficult to write anything about San Francisco and not bring it back, eventually, to the topic of sex. That’s because sexuality in this city is so out there in the open. And that’s why today’s quote might be about sex but it comes from a food critic’s review of a local restaurant.
“San Francisco loves sex. Raunchy S & M stores (that sell tight leather pants, kinky fish net stockings, and human dog collars with the “obligatory” metal spikes) abound and an unassuming pedestrian walking down Market Street will inevitably encounter a barrage of “untrustworthy” massage parlors and flashing neon …read more

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I stopped listening to Jennifer Filzen’s CD Sirena over an hour ago and the first song, “Yo-Yo” is still stuck in my head. I mean that in a good way. I hesitate to use the word “catchy” to describe Filzen’s music because it’s such an over-used description but it really is the right word in this case. When this first song was playing, I felt the urge to get up and dance at my desk, as though I was inside of some private club filled with fun-loving kids who are thoroughly twenty-first century but have a love for all things …read more

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